Population of New Zealand’s largest city falls for first time
Auckland, Oct 22: In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, New Zealand’s population growth slowed down with the largest city of Auckland recording a decline for the first time ever, the country’s statistics department Stats NZ said on Friday. New Zealand saw slowing population growth in all regions, population estimates and projections manager Hamish Slack said in a statement. Covid-19 international travel restrictions continued to curb population increases from international migration in the June 2021 year, Slack said.
Nationally, the population growth rate dropped from 2.2 per cent in the June 2020 year to 0.6 per cent in the June 2021 year, the lowest it has been since the June 2012 year, Xinhua news agency quoted Stats NZ as saying.
The population decreased in the Auckland, West Coast, and Southland regions, and other regions experienced lower growth, Slack said, adding in contrast, all regions had population growth in the June 2020 year.
While the population decrease in the Auckland region was just 1,300 or 0.1 per cent in 2021, this was still a significant change, he said, adding the Auckland region has averaged population growth of 1.8 per cent a year over the previous 20 years, higher than the national average growth of 1.4 per cent a year. Auckland’s population is provisionally estimated as 1.72 million on June 31, 2021, statistics show.
The fastest growing regions in the June 2021 year were Northland with a growth rate of 1.9 per cent, and Tasman and Bay of Plenty, both growing at 1.5 per cent.
The population growth in these three regions was mainly driven by people moving there from other areas of the country, Slack said. (IANS)
A jab in each arm: France mulls counter to possible double-whammy
Paris, Oct 22: Worried that the flu and COVID-19 could trigger a winter-time double-whammy of new infections and deaths, France is forging ahead with a nation-wide vaccination and booster-shot programme against both diseases, offering simultaneous jabs to millions of at-risk people.
The annual flu vaccination campaign kicked off Friday, four days earlier than initially planned, dovetailing with France’s COVID-19 vaccination program that as well as trying to reach those who remain unvaccinated is also providing booster shots to those in need.
French health authorities, in instructions issued this week, urged doctors, nurses, pharmacists and midwives to “systematically promote both vaccinations” to at-risk people eligible for COVID-19 booster and flu shots. The note said the jabs can be given the same day, one in each arm. It added that the onset of the winter flu season with the pandemic ongoing “increases the risk of co-infection and the development of serious cases and deaths.” French health authorities also fear that because there were fewer flu infections in 2020, because of social distancing and coronavirus lockdowns, people could be more vulnerable this winter. “The flu could be strong this year — I stress could’ — because we had no flu last year and so the population’s immunity is lower,” Health Minister Olivier Veran said on BFM-TV. (AP)
The flu vaccination campaign was already underway in elderly care homes, which got a green light to start giving jabs from Monday. Those immediately eligible for flu jabs include all those aged 65 and above, pregnant women, people of all ages with chronic illnesses or obesity, health professionals, home-helpers for at-risk people and families with vulnerable new-borns under 6 months old. France’s COVID-19 booster-shot campaign launched in September, targeting many of the same people now prioritized for free flu shots. They include the over-65s, care-home residents, the chronically sick and recipients of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Close to 50 million people in France — nearly 74% of the population — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and more than 1.2 million others have had a first shot. (AP)